


At Your Party

by mydeira



Series: Something Maybe 'Verse [19]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-09
Updated: 2011-07-09
Packaged: 2017-10-21 05:06:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/221248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydeira/pseuds/mydeira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s not much of a housewarming with only two guests.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Your Party

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: very vague for “A Day In The Death”
> 
> Disclaimer: I’m still neither RTD nor the BBC, just exorcising bunnies.
> 
> A/N: Follows To Every Season and takes place shortly before “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”. Part nineteen in the Something Maybe ‘Verse.

Gwen frowned at the living room where Tosh and Ianto sat chatting. “You know, it’s not really much of a house warming with only two guests,” she said to Owen.

He gave her a wry look over the door of the refrigerator. “Are you calling us pathetic?”

“Maybe a little. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I hardly saw my mates from school before I joined Torchwood. Mostly I hung out with everyone after work or Rhys’ friends. I just didn’t realize how small of a social circle I had until, well, now.”

Owen handed her a beer and she sipped it gratefully. He retrieved three more and kicked the door closed. “I never had many mates.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Oh, there were plenty of people I partied with, but I was never particularly close with any of them.” Leaning back against the counter, he opened his lager. “It didn’t ever seem all that important.”

Owen preferred to keep people at arms’ length; she hadn’t needed a psychology course to tell her that. And judging from the quick rebuffs anytime she remotely inquired about his family, he wasn’t close with any of them either.

“It’s no wonder Torchwood draws us in,” she mused. “Gives us an excuse not to have to be sociable.”

“Easier to blame the job than yourself.”

“Yeah.”

“You two are looking far too glum,” Ianto observed, making a beeline for the bottles on the counter. “And you’re rubbish hosts.” He called over his shoulder, “You might as well come and join us, Tosh. The kitchen is apparently the place to be.”

Tosh looked at them curiously as walked into the kitchen. She gave Ianto a grateful smile when he handed her a beer. “Shouldn’t you two be happier?”

Owen caught Gwen’s wrist and pulled her close. “Blame Gwen. She thinks we’re a pathetic lot.”

She swatted him before settling against his right side. “That’s not what I said.”

“Fine.” He rolled his eyes. “Miss By The Book said that two people doesn’t make a housewarming.”

“She has a point,” Ianto stated. “I believe you need at least six guests for it to count.”

Gwen suspected he was joking, but with Ianto you couldn’t always tell.

Tosh chimed in, “And we are pathetic when you get right down to it. Torchwood’s our life.” She punctuated her comment with a long pull on the bottle she held. It was nearly half gone when she stopped. “Nice choice on the beer, by the way.”

“Those goofy calendars do have their uses,” Owen replied.

Ianto smirked. “And here you were going to throw it out.”

“It was bloody impersonal. You only give those kind of gifts to people you hate.”

“No, Chicken Soup For The Soul is for people you hate. Calendars are for people you feel ambivalent towards.”

“The girls got certificates for the spa.”

“And your point is?”

“A calendar is hardly comparable.”

“Ah, but I actually paid for the calendar.”

“I knew you managed some sort of deal there,” Gwen said. She’d never been so utterly pampered in her life.

“The bloke who runs it owed me a favor.” Ianto’s eyebrow crept up in thought. “Several favors really.”

“I don’t suppose he still owes you, does he?” Tosh inquired.

“Oh, I might be able to work something out.” He looked at Owen. “And if you’re not too unbearable this year, you could be getting something other than three hundred and sixty-five days of cute baby animals.”

Owen groaned. “I’ll water those bloody plants of yours if it gets me an upgrade.”

“I’m amenable to that arrangement. So long as none of them die. One dies, cute animals it is.”

“You mean that, don’t you?”

Ianto gave a small nod. “I do.”

Owen seemed to be giving it serious consideration.

“Owen, you can’t,” Tosh protested. “Remember the cactus?”

Gwen snorted. “You couldn’t keep a cactus alive?”

He tugged her close and nipped at her ear. “You hush. You’re supposed to defend me now.”

“Not when you kill a cactus.” She rested her chin on his shoulder. “I can’t keep plants to save my life. But I know I could manage a cactus.”

“Hey, they’re more difficult to care for than you think.”

Tosh shook her head. “I checked with several botanists and that species was supposed to be especially resilient. Otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered.”

“They lied.”

“Give it up, Owen.”

He sighed, then held out his hand to Ianto. “Your plants are going to be in even better condition than they are now when I’m through with them.”

“Though you might want to remove any you’re particularly attached to,” Tosh cautioned him.

Ianto was positively triumphant as he shook Owen’s hand. “Just remember, these are the nauseatingly cute cute animals.”

Tosh gave a sudden start, eyes going wide. A moment later she retrieved her PDA from her pocket and frowned. “Damn.”

“Rift activity?” Gwen asked.

“Unfortunately.”

“Sure, it’s quiet all week, but tonight…” Owen grumbled.

“It could be nothing,” Tosh ventured.

They all looked at her.

“Or not.”

“Right then, children,” Owen announced. “Time to save the world.”

As they headed out, Gwen decided that as far as housewarmings went, it had been rather enjoyable.


End file.
